On the train, 豐原 to 栗林 to 谭子. (We'll get off several stops later at 松竹 Station.) | ||
April 12, 2026 
We left the seafood market and headed to our next stop, the 高美溼地野生動物保護區 (Gaomei Wetland Preservation Area)noteThis is a very popular tourist attraction when visiting Taichung. Many travel
websites say it's a spot not to be missed. Zhiwei said that in the evening, the place is packed with people . Zhiwei dropped us off at the windy
viewing platform while he went to park the car; we took this selfie
with Mingqi while waiting for him to join us. The path ahead, a
winding boardwalk stretching over wetlands out to the sea,
looked interesting.
 attempting to get great sunset pictures. 
Mei-O and I began our walk along the boardwalk over the muddy marshland
to the sea. (Zhiwei and Mingqi didn't want to come, so they remained at the viewing platform.) Along the way, we saw
hundreds of these tiny crabs scampering along the ground, popping in
and out of their holes, and these even tinier white crabs everywhere.
When we reached the end, less than a 15-minute walk, we were surprised
by what we saw. People were shedding their shoes and walking out into the very
shallow sea, with a lot of the kids playing in the water/sand/mud. Without a towel to dry off, Mei-O nixed the idea
of walking out there. We decided to document our presence there with a windy
selfie. This was a very cool place, another great experience to add to our collection of great experiences from all around
the world.
As we walked back, I took a video (0:53) of our trek.
As we headed to the car to leave the wetlands, we ran into 螞蟻香腸, a little snack stand selling Chinese sausage
wrapped in a sticky rice "bun" (amongst other things). The name of the
stand 螞蟻香腸 literally translates to "ant (螞蟻) sausage (香腸)"); the banner over the counter reads "螞蟻香腸大腸包小腸",
sporting the famous name of their featured delicacy "大腸包小腸" ("Large Sausage Wrapped Around Small Sausage"note"大腸包小腸" is actually a popular treat around Taiwan. It originated in Tainan, and has
spread around the island. The "ant" part is purely local to this street food stand. ). Zhiwei
wanted a snack, so he ordered one, and he ordered
one for us too. It was terrible!
Around 4:30, we drove away from the wetlands and headed back to Taichung, seeing many wind
turbine farms along the seashore. There's part of a famous bridge in
the above picture, but it's rather low profile and hard to see.
We eventually, after about an hour drive, wound up in a part of Taichung
where this old historic Japanese brewery stood and where remnants still
can be found. We walked around the area which included a small
urban park where we saw
this, then headed over to...
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...the 忠孝路觀光夜市, a local night market. Zhiwei knew exactly what I was looking for!
